A/n: Hi! Here is the first chapter of my new fic, an AU of "Endgame".

The hull of the Voyager C, the third Starfleet vessel of that name in three decades, had buckled in on itself like tinfoil crushed in a fist after several punishing direct hits from ruthlessly efficient Borg torpedoes. Even Deck 6, centred on the Astrometrics lab that had been the last bastion of resistance after the Bridge had been assimilated, was now free of the urgent cries of individual Starfleet personnel, only the deliberate, mechanical footfalls of drones now echoed through its corridors. One corridor was partially blocked by part of the ship's metal skeleton having collapsed through the ceiling panels, ripping loose wiring which now cast an intermittent electrical glow over the pallid grey bodies which lay strewn haphazardly around. A girl's mane of thick wavy long hair caught the light eerily; it gleamed a luxuriant golden brown at the tips but at the crown near the scalp was caked beyond recognition with a rusty brown sticky substance that also ran down in rivulets to stain the turquoise highlights of the girl's ensign uniform. She had enough of life's awareness left in her that the trickling sensation bothered her, and she dimly tried to lift a hand to wipe it away, but the wayward limb would not obey her command. Earlier in her headstrong, determined life this would have frustrated her no end but not now; in the back of her mind an instinct told her it didn't matter, no more than the sickly sweet taste filling her mouth mattered, not in the grand scheme of things.

Still, she was very aware of the footsteps thudding closer and closer, like an encroaching thunder storm on a summer evening; her hearing had not yet deserted her and neither had fear. As the metal webbed legs of a drone approached her body seemed to wither even further in an attempt to remain unnoticed. Fate pushed her into failure as the drone's weight landed on her one of her splayed out hands, crushing every fragile bone that hadn't already been snapped. Even in her hopeless fog, a scream of agony built up desperately in her leaden, oxygen starved lungs, but an urgent, commanding, hiss in her ear killed the urge instantly, "Don't scream! Never alert a drone to your presence!" The girl's eyes swivelled around wildly for the familiar, yet half forgotten voice that she trusted immediately, but the corridor was empty, she and the drone were alone. It's face, once a young man's, stared down at her, she could see her own pale blue eyes reflected in the silver of his implants. "Be irrelevant." The voice whispered to her, pleading now, and she obeyed, letting her heavy lids finally close and her mind let go.

"Are you alright Kate?" Admiral Kathryn Janeway smiled as she felt comfort wash over her at the sound of his voice.

"I'm fine Mark, just a lot of old memories." She told him softly, "I'm getting a little old for these anniversaries."

Mark smiled at her teasingly, "I'll remember to remind you of that when our first anniversary comes around in a few months."

"Very funny!" Kathryn threw back before planting a light kiss on his now slightly weathered lips as he ran an affectionate hand through her now silver hair.

Pulling back, Mark placed a supportive hand on her arm. "Ready now?"

Kathryn gave a quick decisive nod, a credit to her Starfleet training, and stepped into the lavishly decorated hall, reading the "10th Anniversary" banners with a flinch of pain before she was caught unawares by Reg Barclay's understanding, and relieved, smile. "I'm so glad you could make it Admiral!" he exclaimed happily.

"As if I could miss the anniversary of the best day of my life Reg!" She joked, old grief replaced with pleasure as she saw the familiar faces. "How are you getting on with your speech?"

Reg gulped nervously. "As…well as can be expected. The Doctor has been…helping me with my stutt…stutter." He laughed it off, "Don't make me nervous or I'll need more help!"

"Where is the Doctor anyway? I thought…" Janeway began before she was interrupted by a light tug on her leg and looked down to see little Sabrina Wildman grinning up at her.

"Admiral, will you help me get into Starfleet Academy early?" she asked earnestly.

Janeway chuckled, "Well, I don't know…"

"Sabrina! Don't bother Admiral Janeway with that!" A heavily pregnant Naomi Wildman admonished her daughter as she rushed over, "I'm sorry, she…" She began, a light flush of embarrassment flooding her cheeks.

"She reminds me of a little girl I used to know and she turned out very well." A new voice said with soft reassurance that made Naomi's eyes fill up with tears.

"Chakotay…" She murmured, immediately hugging him hard as she scanned him in concern. "How are you?"

His lips gave a twist of badly disguised pain in response but his eyes were warm as he looked her over. "Congratulations."

"Oh…" Naomi mumbled, having for a second forgotten about her baby bump. "Thank you." A lump formed in her throat when she saw the sincerity in his eyes was clouded with grief, nothing had been fair to the good heartened man who'd been, like some others, a surrogate uncle in her youth.

He smiled at her briefly and turned to the Captain, who looked shaken by his very presence. "I didn't expect to see you here; you've left the uniform at home I see?"

He nodded distractedly. "I'm not that person anymore, not on any day of the year." He told her firmly. "You're enjoying married life?"

"Oh yes, thirty three years later than planned of course…" She said lightly as her gaze moved from her new gleaming ring to his, which in contrast was burnished with a quarter of a century of turbulent wear, and a sigh left her lips, which made him tense despite his hard learned decades of restraint around her, he was not going to be lectured about "a new lease on life" today of all days.

"I'll see you later Admiral." He said in a controlled tone before disappearing into the crowd, remerging at the sound of Tom's voice as he spoke with the Doctor.

"Congratulations, I'm from a mixed marriage myself and I can tell you they're often the best kind." Tom was cheerily telling the Doctor and a young woman Chakotay didn't recognise, but assumed to be the Doctor's new bride. He watched as the Doctor and the woman moved away, hearing Tom's sidelong comment to a haggard looking Harry, "Does she remind you of anyone?" They shared a knowing look before Harry caught sight of Chakotay and both men cringed sheepishly before slowly heading towards him.

Chakotay of course knew who they were referring to in comparison and gave the woman a cursory glance. Yes, she was very attractive, stunning even, but to compare the Doctor's companion to her, in his mind, was too big a stretch. She had been utterly unaware of her beauty, outer and inner, while this woman was using it unashamedly, albeit in a charming and good natured manner, obviously enjoying the paternalistic affections of the Doctor that had come close to suffocating her more headstrong spirit…

His trail of thought was interrupted by the weight of hand on his shoulder and he looked down to see Captain Harry Kim's impossibly aged and strained face looking at him with sorrowful sympathy. "I'm so sorry I missed the funeral Chakotay…" He said thickly.

Chakotay gave an involuntary shudder at the word. "I…understood." He said with painful honesty before shrugging the younger man's hand off. "You were far away, on a mission, she…" He gulped, "…would've understood that, you know that."

Tom nodded solemnly, "Yeah, remember how much she wanted to come with you, when we first came back?"

Harry swallowed hard, "Yeah, I remember. I told her she'd get plenty of chances…" He stopped and gave Chakotay a pained apologetic look, but their old First Officer had already turned away and was walking towards what was rapidly becoming a confrontation between B'Elanna and the Admiral.

"I can't see why she can't come home to her family once in a while!" B'Elanna openly fumed at Janeway, "Especially after what happened, she's still heartbroken after missing the funeral…" Spotting Chakotay out of the corner of her eye, that sentence died on her lips and she had to content herself with glaring violently at Janeway.

"B'Elanna…" Janeway started impatiently, stung by the reference to the funeral. "You know as well as I do how hard we both worked to get Miral that position! If she left her post for too often, Korath would lose all respect for her…"

"Who are you to talk of respect?" B'Elanna spat hotly, turning back to the buffet table as Janeway stalked away and Chakotay approached. "I'm sorry Chakotay, I didn't mean to bring all that up, I'm just so scared for Miral now…" A sob caught in her throat and she flinched in surprise as Chakotay's arm, shaking violently with suppressed emotion, went around her shoulders.

"You have to let her live her life…while she has it B'Elanna." He whispered so painfully that B'Elanna hugged him, nearly crying when she felt how thin he was, even the shadow of himself he'd been projecting for years was now fading away…

The chink of glasses interrupted their reverie and they looked up to the platform for Reg's final toast, Chakotay at least had tuned out the rest of it. "…And so I'd like to propose a toast, to the Voyager family standing here tonight!"

"To family!" Everyone echoed enthusiastically.

"And to those not here to celebrate with us." The Admiral added in a quiet command.

The room fell silent, until that is Chakotay's glass shattered in his hand.

He walked up the steep hill with an odd clarity of mind and grief which only washed over him here, despite the effect the climb had on his by now arthritic joints. The grass was wet, the overcast sky had obviously produced rain whilst he'd been at the party, several blossoms of the mature cherry blossom under which he now stood had been pulled free and were being gently blown over the two plain plaques which were set side by side into the ground near the tree's strong roots. The first read:

Seven of Nine

24th of June 2348-15thof May 2380

Beloved wife, mother and friend

Now at rest among the stars, may your spirit return here and find peace at last

The second, obviously recently laid, with slowly dying flower bouquets placed lovingly around it, read:

Freya Ixchel Kotay

31st of October 2378-29thof January 2403

Adored daughter

Born among the stars, may your spirit now know them all and return here

Of course, Seven wasn't actually buried here, she had been left behind in the Delta Quadrant like so many other members of Voyager's crew but it had never seemed right to him that her only memorial was a dust covered plaque in the Voyager museum and he truly believed her sprit was here, where he and Freya had come yearly to lay flowers. It had proven an odd comfort to him that their daughter wasn't alone here, beautiful and serene through the spot was, especially now with a rainbow breaking through the clouds. He let tears slide down his face as he sank to his knees and his hand struck the still relatively fresh earth around Freya's grave, people kept telling him the pain would ease, but he knew from hard experience that whether the loss had happened three months ago or twenty three years ago, the pain remained a constant, whether you learned to live with it or not, and he was tired of trying. "Don't worry; I'm going to fix this." He murmured determinedly as he watched fresh rain bounce off the headstones.

A/n: So, what do you think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D I'm really nervous about this one! I used the name "Freya Ixchel" because Freya was the Viking goddess of love and beauty and Ixchel (pronounced ishchel with a very soft sh) was the Mayan mother goddess. It just struck me as a name Seven and Chakotay would choose, I hope you agree.